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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Trondheim, Norway
    Posts
    1,469

    Travelogue from Uganda

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    Just back from a week in Kampala, Uganda. No, I didn't take my Bike Friday with me. "Tuesday Weld" stayed safe at home, and I stayed as safe as I could in the chaotic traffic of Kampala. I managed not to get run over and not to fall into any "mzunga traps" (up to meter-deep potholes and open sewers in the roads. "Mzungu" (feminine: mzunga), I was told, translates to "easy living" and is anything from an admiring to affectionate to ironic nickname for visitors from wealthier countries, the sort of folks who don't know how to keep an eye on the road so as to avoid potholes and open sewers, or how to balance on sewer banks while traffic wizzes by just millimeters away . I did observe a lot of local cyclists. Also lots of "boda boda" -- small motorcycles; the name refers to the service of selling rides to people crossing borders where you have to walk a considerable distance over a no-mans-land from emigration control on one side to immigration control on the other. Only a fraction of a percentage of boda boda drivers had helmets, none of the pedal-powered cyclists, and none I saw carried extras for passengers. None of either bike category, not a one out of the thousands I saw, were driven/powered by women. I did see women as bike or boda boda passengers, but only sitting side-saddle. Straddling the bike (a lot safer!) is considered unfeminine. I could have opened up a whole new world of female cycling if I'd done some hill repeats on "Tuesday", wearing lycra and helmet. Maybe if I visit again some day. I did, while waiting for the shuttle back to the airport, see a wire sculpture of a female cyclist in a display case at the hotel. Too bad it wasn't for sale. Here are some pictures. Not great quality. The traffic shots were snapped through the window of the university transport van, moving. The wire sculpture was snapped with my cell phone camera through the glass of the display case. Look at the size of the loads being hauled on those pedal bikes! That's sugar cane on the one, I think, and obviously bananas on the other. I also saw some loaded with about 100 kg worth of water in cannisters, or stacks of lumber, furniture, even one with a big truck tire loaded on the back.
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    Last edited by Duck on Wheels; 03-25-2009 at 03:44 AM.
    Half-marathon over. Sabbatical year over. It's back to "sacking shirt and oat cakes" as they say here.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Blessed to be all over the place!
    Posts
    3,433
    cool pics! And to think- most of the US states have laws that preclude use of a bike in those ways!
    If you don't grow where you're planted, you'll never BLOOM - Will Rogers

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Western Canada-prairies, mountain & ocean
    Posts
    6,984
    Great little summary and photos, Duck! Were you in that part of Africa strictly for vacation or partially business purposes? Any particular reason why Uganda..?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Beautiful NW or Left Coast
    Posts
    5,619
    wonderful photos! I find your little sculpture quite ironic considering the status of women and bikes in that country. sidesaddle indeed.
    I like Bikes - Mimi
    Watercolor Blog

    Davidson Custom Bike - Cavaletta
    Dahon 2009 Sport - Luna
    Old Raleigh Mixte - Mitzi

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Trondheim, Norway
    Posts
    1,469
    I was there for a guest lecture and to give some moral support to a PhD student from there, doing her degree here. I'm one of her supervisors. She showed me 'round some of her field sites, we had a couple of supervision conversations, and my mere presence quashed some rumors that she'd been kicked off the PhD program and was just going through the motions.
    Half-marathon over. Sabbatical year over. It's back to "sacking shirt and oat cakes" as they say here.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    1,131
    Duck, I enjoyed your write-up and the pics of Kampala. Those huge loads on bikes are very impressive.
    Everything in moderation, including moderation.

    2007 Rodriguez Adventure/B72
    2009 Masi Soulville Mixte/B18
    1997 Trek 820 Step-thru Xtracycle/B17

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    1,351
    Wow - Duck - how cool!

    I lived in up in Kampala when I was a kid for 6 years (from 1966 to 1972). It was a wonderful place and an incredible experience, all the more so because when you're a kid, you don't know it's an experience - it's just life.

    My father has been back a few times (he is an oncologist/AIDS researcher), but I have never been back -- I would love to go, but I am afraid of how different it will be from my memories.
    Keep calm and carry on...

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Mrs. KnottedYet
    Posts
    9,152

    From Uganda to Hell, Norway to Sonoma

    Duck is in California now.

    We just got back from Robinson's where her bike is having a day at the LBS spa. Tomorrow she'll have it fit for her, Saturday we'll do the Cindy, then back to the spa if Ruby Slippers (bike) needs a tweak.

    We're so lucky here. Norway's a great place it seems they don't have the level of bike shop service we have. On the other hand I imagine you can get great cross country skis? It's also hard to find good mustard.
    Fancy Schmancy Custom Road bike ~ Mondonico Futura Legero
    Found on side of the road bike ~ Motobecane Mixte
    Gravel bike ~ Salsa Vaya
    Favorite bike ~ Soma Buena Vista mixte
    Folder ~ Brompton
    N+1 ~ My seat on the Rover recumbent tandem
    https://www.instagram.com/pugsley_adventuredog/

 

 

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